DUBAI: Saudi Arabia's labor ministry announced it would suspend all visas for foreign men to work at lingerie and cosmetic shops in the country in an effort to ensure only women are working in such stores across the country. Fahd Al-Takhifi, Assistant Undersecretary for Development at the Ministry of Labor, said the ministry will continue to allow these companies to employ males in other positions. Lingerie and cosmetic shops have until June 27 to have only women working. The move is expected to see a return of female shoppers to the women's nightwear and make-up shops, after a number of women had boycotted stores that maintained their male staff in recent months. The law had been stalled from going into effect as a result of conservatives in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom, who said women should not be allowed to work in areas where men and women mix together, such as malls. Lingerie shops had previously been dominated by male employees, which women said made them uncomfortable and uneasy while shopping. Also part of the new law is a stipulation that promotes local Saudi women in such jobs over foreign workers. The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that already some 80 percent of make-up and clothing stores for women have already hired more Saudis to take up sales positions. In August, there were worries that shop owners were dragging their feet and the new regulations would not be met. According to workers in the country, the new regulations will create staff problems and would leave to a loss of customers. However, women in the country have told Bikyamasr.com that it is important to meet the needs of women. “We don't like to go in and have men tell us what kind of intimate wear we should be getting. It is demeaning and this new regulations will make our shopping experience much better,” said Sarah, a 29-year-old married woman who was recently in the United Arab Emirates on a shopping vacation with her husband. The Saudi ministry of labor on July 11 last year threatened that lingerie shops that have not replaced all their male staff within 6 months could be shut down, even as the deadline was extended. “We read about the order in newspapers but we did not receive any instructions (from management)… This plan can work but not at the speed they are expecting. The women have to be trained from scratch,” said Tarek, a store manager at a lingerie shop in Jeddah, in comments published by Reuters news agency. Large department stores will be excluded from the decision based on the separation of males and females in the concerned departments. Saudi female workers will have to register with the labor office and their employers will have to register their pay role of each month. The move specifies workers' age to be a minimum of 20-years-old and maximum 35-years-old. The ministry also added new regulations concerning female workers at factories. The regulations specifies that a woman cannot begin work before 6 AM and to not stay after 5 PM. Saudi women face many obstructions in their daily lives including most notably the fact that they are not allowed to drive by law, are only allowed to start a small number of businesses, besides the dress restriction that prohibits women from publicly appearing without the head scarf (Hijab). Saudi women rights activists have fought in the past to change these laws but Saudi's patriarchal society gives little weight to their voices, yet it seems that social networking websites have given Saudi women a much needed space to express their views that usually clashes with the conservative nature of Saudi society. Saudi activists launched a campaign titled “I will drive myself” on the social networking website Facebook on June 17. The campaign brought about a debate within society. The campaign was fueled by the arrest of a Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, who was detained for driving her car in the Saudi city of al-Khabar. Al-Sharif was detained for 9 days and charged with inciting women to drive after she posted a video online encouraging women to take the wheel. 7,000 women had joined the online call and a larger number of men joined in opposing the campaign to stop women from driving. Women who tried to follow on the lead of al-Sharif were also arrested. ** Manar Ammar contributed to this report. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/FGDIa Tags: Labor, Lingerie, Men, Saudi, Stores, Visas Section: Gulf, Latest News, Saudi Arabia, Women
